As the Blue Jackets rode a two-month stretch of winning this spring that stands as the best in franchise history, center Brandon Dubinsky experienced a familiar feeling.

Watching goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky carry the team on an almost nightly basis reminded Dubinsky of his days with the New York Rangers, who are led by goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, whose play during the 2011-12 season led to him winning the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender.

Tonight, the trophy could be engraved with Bobrovsky’s name when the winner is announced before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Bobrovsky, Lundqvist and San Jose’s Antti Niemi are the finalists.

“I got to see Henrik up close, and now I’ve seen ‘Bob’ up close,” Dubinsky said. “They both have that focus about them, that calm. It’s a quiet intensity that’s really rare and really cool to see up close. They push it to a point where you just can’t break their focus, their intensity.”

Bobrovsky went 21-11-6 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .932 save percentage. He also had four shutouts. But numbers only say so much about the way he played.

During the Blue Jackets’ 19-5-5 stretch to finish the season, Bobrovsky clearly was their best player. He was 18-5-3 with a .1.64 goals-against average and 946 save percentage in March and April.

“Goaltenders can be guys that are just … goaltenders. They just do their jobs,” said John Davidson, the Blue Jackets’ president of hockey operations, who was a top NHL goaltender, mostly in the 1970s. “But Sergei’s personality and the way he works so hard is infectious. It lifted us.

“He’s a driven athlete, but with a very calm demeanor. Nothing is guaranteed in sports, but you get the sense he’s going to have a very good career.”

The Blue Jackets were predicted by many to be the worst club in the NHL for a second straight season. But after a 5-12-2 start, they caught fire.The identity envisioned by previous general manager Scott Howson — hungry, fast forwards and a stout defense — finally took root in late February, coinciding with Bobrovsky wresting the No. 1 job away from Steve Mason.

The way Bobrovsky practiced, the way he continued to train after practice, helped push the bar higher.

“Players saw how hard he was working, they saw how big of a difference he was making for us, and it shows the reward for such hard work,” general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “That’s the kind of culture every team wants to create. It’s the winning culture.”

Bobrovsky, acquired from Philadelphia in June 2012, was one of many newcomers who arrived in Columbus unsure of the environment they were joining. But they didn’t join a culture; they created one.

Dubinsky said Bobrovsky was a big part of it, and again he pointed to Lundqvist. Bobrovsky is 24 and a Russian. Lundqvist, 31, is a Swede. But they have so much in common.

“The one thing that always stood out about Henrik is, he hated being scored on, even in practice,” Dubinsky said. “Didn’t matter if it was 3-on-0 off a rebound at the end of practice, he’s still going to fight until the last dying chance to make the save.

“I see that from Sergei, too, and those things carry over. Not just from practice to the game, but from one player to another. You see it, you feed off it.”

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